Liza Zhakova & Dima Zharov – In the Know

“This is a story about dominatrix Pour Vivre and her activities in St. Petersburg, Russia. The “Know” or “Theme” — a name that BDSM is called in Russian-speaking circles.

We met Pour Vivre at one of the parties where she was giving a BDSM performance: a half-naked young woman in a belt was riding a sub in a pig mask while the mistress was piercing her back with needles. A two-meter tall Asian man dressed as a woman with an unfazed face was standing nearby holding a tray with props: needles, leash, and a whip.

Pour Vivre is one of those for whom the ‘The Know’ is not a way to vent, but a way of life. She has been in it for a while, and has been open about it for the past five years. Her family knows what she does and has made their peace with it — it is most important for them that she is happy. The mistress rented a separate apartment for her experiments. One of her subs, Kali, lives there all the time: he cleans, cooks, and fulfils her special wishes. He spends his days studying at university, and stays at his dorm for the night if his mistress needs him to. Pour Vivre says that for her everything started in kindergarten: she made a boy lick a piece of metal at minus temperatures and made the other girls watch.

Pour Vivre says that now is the best time for her, as her interests are in tune with the interests of many other people. The mistress is sure that humankind is now at the evolutionary stage where female energy prevails and dominates, finds some kind of a greater response in the masses. Female domination is now at its peak, and it takes BDSM to a new level — for instance, register a club, take the ‘Know’ out of the underground.” Liza Zhakova & Dima Zharov